Sunday, April 29, 2012

Do you love the chairs from yesterday's post as much as I do? Want to get the look without the expense of buying the whole set? Check out (my girl Annabelle) Stylish Furniture and Decor's Wishbone Chair. Modeled after the iconic chair by Hans Wegner for Carl Hansen, this version is solid wood with a hemp seat.

This little love come's in at an affordable $245. Take 20% off if you buy more than 6 chairs. Available in brown, green, natural and pink! Enter CLT10 for 10% off as long as you order by 5/31/12.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Yesterday was the Best. Day. Ever. And I had no idea it was coming! The date was on my calendar (of course!) but I honestly hadnt had the time to focus on the event. In a world that seems as though every minute of everyday is over scheduled, often daunting and sometimes extremely boring, yesterday was a breath of fresh air.

I drew the lucky card when I scored a ticket to the Mint Museum's Room to Bloom Decorative Arts Symposium at Charlotte Country Club. The bonus, this years speaker was acclaimed NYC designer Celerie Kemble. Just in case you havent heard of her, open up the new Special Edition Domino Magazine and turn to page 86. Celerie has a six page spread in the cult classic magazine that will change the way you feel about small spaces. She is also the author of Celerie Kemble: To Your Taste in 2008 and the recent Black & White: And A Bit in Between. Still not sure? Check out J.Crew's "Real Women" ad's and search for the blond-headed, long-legged beauty with the soulful eyes. Not amazed yet? This woman has three children 5 and under!

Check out artist Jennifer Levine's artwork front and center stage.

The Skinny

Celerie is the owner of Kemble Interiors in NYC and Palm Beach partners with her mother, acclaimed interior designer Mimi McMakin. She was an English Major and is a graduate of Harvard University and she never planned on a career in design. In fact, Celerie worked in movie production before a side hobby of scouring NYC flea markets turned into a new career including a year of unpaid internships and ultimately one extremely successful business. Celerie is an american classic, a true beauty and one of the sweetest souls I have ever met.

My friend Brittan, whose sadly couldn't make the event and whose ticket I scored, wisely encouraged me to get there early. I got to Charlotte Country Club at 8:59 and I think I was one of the first people in the grand space. I was by myself. I drank my 4th cup of coffee and grabbed a seat in the very, very front. (Insert dork here. . . again I am by myself and there are over 500 women, mostly in groups, in the room.)

Divine Inspiration

So I sat in the front and I took notes. . .9 pages worth of notes. . .and so I thought I would share with you my favorite moments from my 1 hour of design heaven.

Thoughts/Tips on Being a Designer

"Be honest with yourself!" How do you live? Are you messy? Do you entertain?

"You only remember things that are different."

Stick with the traditional elements of scale. Other than that break the rules! Mix Metal, layer rugs, etc.

When it comes to compromising with clients, Celerie points out that "Compromise is where the genius comes from!" I know my decorator friends always wish that they had endless budgets and total control over the decision process. Instead, Celerie has learned to embrace her clients differences and credits each individual room to "build(ing) from the additives." The elements that came to the marriage or the family, the unique and heirloom pieces that must either remain and/or be built around.

Celerie is addicted to natural elements like sisal and seagrass. They are in every room she does.

Do lots of editing (of the room.)

Indulge in fabric and lighting.

"When you need creative inspiration, take a break and come back."

"Be open with your clients, build trust. Listen to what they say."

One of my personal favorites is "Items that are found rather than made. . .that's when you get special!"

Thoughts on and from her Mother

She never wanted to be a designer, she knew how hard it was. All she remembers is her mother running around the kitchen in her underpants "freaking out."

"Nothing goes right all the time."

"Keep your notepad by the bed" so that when you wake up with ideas you can write them down.

"I'd Rather Be Happy Than Dignified."

Thoughts on Being a Mother

Some of my favorite moments came from listening to Celerie describe "living" in her house with her three children. That she would rather have many nice things mostly destroyed than live a padded, sparse house. She also points out that so many of her New York clients have designated spaces for the children and for the adults and how this can be a very bad thing when the children break free from their constraints . . . they get very destructive!

SNUGGLE WITH YOUR KIDS!

"Never let things get to precious."

Celerie has a crazy schedule, but she has the flexibility to be there when it really matters. She calls on her family and her mother in law often to help with the kids and to be there for "snuggle" time.

Our beautiful table in the Donald Ross room.

After the Decorative Arts Symposium, I ran to Cooper's pre-school for pick up and then headed straight to event sponsor Circa Interior's & Antiques in Myers Park for the book signing. Again yes, I am the first one in the shop and an obvious über dork, but I get to meet Celerie when she walks in the door. She is so open and friendly and I really do feel like I am just meeting a new friend at a cocktail party. She signs my book first because I am now running home to meet Sadie at the bus stop.

An amazing ottoman at Circa Interiors pre-book signing.

I am dying of excitement and an even bigger sap than I ever knew at this exact moment.

Celerie signed my book, chatted up sweet, sleepy Cooper with stories of her little one and over all won my heart forever!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Time has just been flying by, and as unfair as that usually seems, we have been having a great time over here. Easter was a smashing success at old Carolina Golf Club. Our "club in the hood" opened up the new outdoor patio and fire pit, hosted an amazing brunch and had so many kids at the Easter Egg Hunt that next year they are going to have to have a serious conversation with the Easter Bunny about Supply and Demand.

Scotty and I posed for a rare couples picture and it didn't turn out terrible.

Cooper and Sadie got super serious about the Bunny.

Sadie's luck shined when she found this 4 leaf clover outside of Kathy's neighbor's house!

The lamps finally arrived for our living room makeover and they are so disco, I die! More to come on that later!

Tried my hand at gardening and landscaping last weekend and I think I might love my new hobby!

. . . started the "Get Minty" project, so stay tuned for the final reveal this weekend!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Meet my new friend Judith Voglesonger, owner and creator of JWV Artists. JWV offers everything from Art Consultations to Artist Representation. Judith searches for local artist that are both talented and reasonably priced. Her mission is to bring original art to the public and she does so in the comfort of her own home gallery. This personalized approach defines the relaxed experience of buying art through JWV Artists.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

I snatched this photo from Heather Clawson's blog Habitually Chic this morning. If you are not already devouring her daily's, you should be! The Queen of the New York elite interior design blog world, Heather is the go to blogger for all things neauveau and hip . (Read she gets to go to the cool openings and partys.) Check her out at http://habituallychic.blogspot.com

Rumors have been swirling on the new issue for months and I am so excited that they were all true!! When Domino Magazine closed up shop in 2009, there was a black cloud of gloom over the desks of interior designers all over the world.

The only light left behind was the design bible book by the ever cool Domino peeps. I am sure I have read the book at least 100 times and I am not exaggerating in the least. If you don't already own it, click on the book to purchase from Barnes and Noble and get a sneak peek into the world of design!

I will be the one sleeping in front of Paper Skyscraper, waiting for the delivery.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

I am beyond excited to introduce my friend Eleanor Hains Rodway. Eleanor is an over all creative master mind and the writer/ blogger for TahTah makeup.

She is über wife to handsome Jamie and loving Mama to sweet baby Max. Oh and yes, I enter into evidence, that indeed a girl can have it all. . . my girl E is the real PIMPIN deal!

Hi everyone! It's so nice to be here! Thanks to @sweethomecharlotte for inviting me over to play. Blogging about make-up is an absolute blast but once in a while I like to break away from the norm and change things up. I must preface this with the disclaimer that I am in no way an expert designer. I seek most of my designing advice from @sweethomecharlotte. She tolerates my questions and always helps me make decisions. I love a project though. Big or small I'm always excited to tackle something new. I don't always get the most desired result but every once in a while I pull out a winner. This my friends was a winner.

It started with a lone fabric swatch from Tony's in Huntersville. If you haven't been there you need to go - loads of fabric all on the cheap.

Anyways - fabric swatch inspiration

I decided to use it to recover my dining room chairs. My dining room and living room are a combo area. I've been wanting to do a little upgrade to the space for a while now.

I didn't want to can't spend a ton of money for three reasons(1) We've got some really nice leather chairs that we paid a premium for - I basically blew an entire room house budget on those things(2) We have some nice family heirloom pieces in the room that are OFF LIMITS when it comes to moving, painting etc.(3) My husband would kill me if I spent more money on furniture.

So trying to keep it simple and cheap I aim to put lipstick on the proverbial pig (totally kidding I LOVE my living room space)

But a little fabric and paint goes a long way. So with my reuphosltery project on the to do list....progress shown below

Errr moving right along aren't we?

I'm a tornado when it comes to DIY I like to plan and then do it ALL at once so I needed more on my living room updo to do list (can you say that three times fast?)

I opted for a side table project. I've been wanting a new side table to go in between the two leather chairs. I was thinking old Hollywood glam, maybe a brass nailhead trim table or something like this

So I went to plan B. I discovered this website on one of my design blogs not to long ago - www.myoverlays.com Upon my discovery I realized that I could do a fancy side table at a fraction of the cost thanks to the overlays and thus a new project was born.

I started with the Ikea Rast side table

These things are super cheap at Ikea - $34.99. They aren't solid oak or anything but I would say fairly sturdy. I mean ultimately you get what you pay for at Ikea but again it wasn't being held together by glue. A good solid accent piece in my opinion. So to begin with I primed both the drawers and the actual piece.

I covered the front and the inside of the drawers with newspaper and then primed them in a grey primer and spray painted them gold. This way when you open them up the sides are gold and the inside is gold. My plan is with the leftover fabric from the chairs to line the inside of the drawers with it. Choosing a color was the hard part. I'd taken the fabric swatch to Lowe's to have them try and match it. Then I tried to pick colors just eyeballing the fabric

The dark one in the dead center is what Lowe's pulled from the swatch. I think it's pretty funny how my "eyeballing" didn't even come close to what Lowe's pulled. Although in my defense the browns from the fabric pulled through on the custom color hence it being so dark. It ended up working out perfectly because we have dark furniture. So we chose the custom color. Completed drawer with spray painted inside and front looks like so

Sorry the picture is a wee bit dark. Mad Max rarely lets me get stuff accomplished in the daylight hours.

Next I painted the overlays that I purchased. I spray painted them gold as well. This part was super easy. They are very light weight but not so light weight that they fly around when you're painting them.

Then came the worst part of all - making sure these suckers lined up EXACTLY. I asked told my husband he needed to help me as it really was a two person job.

Once we'd gotten them lined up perfectly I marked the drawer while the husband held them in place. Then smeared a little Liquid Nails on the back and stuck it on.

Adding the hardware was the last step. I headed over to Blackhawk with the exact picture in mind of what I wanted.

I ended up with these

Pretty much what I wanted - the glass looking knobs. These are acrylic so pretty close. My only complaint - I wanted a brass or gold base but all they had was silver - or I should say all they had in my price range was silver. They had crystal and glass knobs both with gold or brass bases but the crystal knobs at $23 a pop and the glass knobs at $16 a pop....

Well let's just say I made an executive decision and went with silver and acrylic for $4.

Truthfully I refused to spend $150 on hardware for an Ikea piece and if you once again reference Reason 3 from above it's totally applicable in hardware purchases as well.